Family Shoot & Fun Day!

The weather has been very wet and rarely have we been able to enjoy a warm spring day this year.  Good Friday last month was an exception and we had a near perfect spring day of sunshine and cloudless skies.

I had organised a shoot for Jane, Neil and their three lovely boys. We had great fun and we finished the shoot with some chocolate lollipops for the boys - well, its was Easter weekend!

They are an amazing family and Jane has organised a Family Fun Day to be held in Stanford in the Vale this Saturday, 19th May.  The event is in memory of  their daughter Emma Kate Braddy who sadly died in 2007 just 7 weeks old and will raise money to support the children's charities Great Ormond Street and The Sick Children's Trust who provide support to them during the time of Emma's illness.

The day starts at 12 noon and is packed with stalls and events for the whole family to enjoy including the opportunity to have your photo taken with yours truly!!  I will be offering 15 mins slots for individual or group portraits to provide a 8x6" mounted image for the special price of £15. All profits will go to the charities.

You can book your photo slot on the day or why not book ahead and reserve your time slot now. Call 07535 613606 or email me to secure an available time.  All images are taken using natural light and ideally will done outdoors...the forecast looks favourable but if there's a bit of rain bring your wellies and umbrellas - we can still get some great fun images!!

Please do come and support the event and help celebrate Emma's short life; more details available here where you can also make donations if you are unable to attend on the day.

In the meantime here are some images from our shoot last month and fingers crossed the weather will be just as beautiful on Saturday. I hope to see you there!

Judi x

Extended Family Shoot in Oxfordshire

Spring is not just in the air but arriving in our gardens every day.  The snowdrops here in oxfordshire are coming to an end and being replaced by the first daffodils. I was helping out at my son's school the morning and we making spring flowers from card and tissue paper to serve as table decorations so perhaps the end of winter is truly here.  I love the arrival of spring but before we leave the winter months completely I wanted to share with you some images from a Christmas shoot.  I never like to blog my clients shoots until they have had plenty of time to review the photos with family and friends - after all it is their shoot!

Emily contacted me in November last year looking for a photographer in the Oxford area.  A large party gathering was occuring over Christmas and with three generations of the family getting together for a holiday she wanted to capture some images of the occasion.  The shoot took place on Boxing Day - not usually a day I work but their stay was short and I had a pre-booked engagement the next day taking my son to the pantomine with his grandparents!  The shoot took place 5 minutes from where I live so I knew even if it was snowy I would be able to get there.  As it was we didn't have snow but a clear winter's morning. The children were adorable and comfortable in front of the camera.  here are a few of my favourite from the day, I hope you enjoy them.

Share the Love on Valentine's Day: A Joint Promotion with Thanks A Bunch, Faringdon

I've been working with Holly at Thanks A Bunch in Faringdon almost since we moved here to The Vale of White Horse in Oxfordshire 18 months ago. I have done a collection of images for her website as well as promotional images for special occasions - Christmas, weddings and recently Valentine's day.

In the summer Debbie joined Holly and they have expanded their weddings portfolio and we did a bridal shoot at Kingston Bagpuize House. I really love going into their shop in Faringdon - the gorgeous smell or floral blooms hits you as soon as you step through the door.

Now that spring is on its way (well, it was approaching... I had a daffodil almost in flower and then the cold snap arrived!!) and Valentine's day is round the corner it presented a fabulous opportunity to do a promotion together.

Everyone ordering a bouquet of red roses (or equivalent spend) with Thanks A Bunch will receive a voucher for a complimentary photoshoot with me - What a fantastic opportunity to get some great images!!

If you are one of the lucky couples to get engaged on Valentines's Day what better than to celebrate with some romantic photos of just the two of you. A lifestyle photoshoot is all about celebrating your relationship and documenting a moment in time which forms part of the story of your lives together.

Many people wait for their wedding day or a significant date in the calendar to celebrate their love but this doesn't need to be the case - share your love this Valentine's Day with your partner and family and have a bespoke photoshoot to remember how much their love means to you.




Judi x

Oxfordshire Christening, Bridal shoot, Family portraits....reflections on 2011!

Bring on 2012!
Coming to the end of January and so many plans are beginning to form for the coming year.  First though a time to reflect on 2011.  Its been a great year after our move down to Oxfordshire and finally getting the business up and running.  I had some wonderful shoots - highlights include a gorgeous oxfordshire christening on a perfect summer's day and despite the tricky lighting with full sunshine captured some great images.  A golden wedding anniversary provided the chance to catch up with old friends and a summer picnic in Suffolk provided the perfect backdrop to the close of summer.  For me the year finished with a lovely extended family shoot on Boxing Day.

Its always great to network with local businesses whether you have a new or old business and so this year has seen me working with florist Holly Green at Thanks a Bunch in Faringdon, helping her with images for their new website.  We also worked together with Cariad bride on a bridal shoot at Kingston Bagpuize House near Abingdon - you can see the images in the new wedding brochure for Kingston Bagpuize House.

Its also been a year to keep up to date with my own personal development: workshops with Morag Macdonald and John Denton have been inspirational and allowed me to further my own creativity in my photography.  Next year will hopefully see more of this as I plan to undertake a personal mentoring course to take my photography to a higher level and really make my business deliver at the highest level.

Last but not least thanks to all those who were part of 2011 - my customers, suppliers, friends and family have all been a big part of my year and from whom I take my inspiration that pushes me forward.  As always a year comes with mixed blessings and like so many I have experienced highs and lows in the year, the joy of welcoming new life into the world as well as sadness of loved ones departed who will be greatly missed.  Photography is about capturing those moments in life that are meaningful to us and maintaining a record for years to come where we can look back and relive the memories and reflect on those times.  Life will never stand still but an image can capture a moment in life forever.

Some of my favourite images from 2011 are below, I hope you enjoy them and here's wishing you all a very happy, healthy and successful 2012!

Jx

Golden Wedding Anniversary in Dorset

Its amazing just how many wedding anniversaries there are at the end of July - both my parents and my husbands parents also married on the last weekend in July. They of course were teachers and keen to make it the first weekend of the summer holidays which goes someway to expaining the appeal of this weekend. This year it was the turn of Ralph and Freda to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary and great to see two people still happily married and enjoying life together.  They had a celebration with their family & friends which included son Clive and his american wife Lisa - friends of my husband and I from our days when we were living in the USA. 

It was a lovely day, the rain stopped midday and the sun came out which allowed everyone to enjoy the garden which was looking splendid thanks to Ralph's green fingers! We enjoyed catching up with old friends and I captured some great pictures of the couple with their family and friends - some of my favourite from the day are below.

Oxfordshire Christening

It was a glorious summer day ten days ago for the christening of Charles at Kencot church. Family and friends had gathered to celebrate, including siblings Ella and Henry, and I was invited to take some photographs of this wonderful occasion. The glorious weather meant we could spend the afternoon in the garden after the christening and get some great shots of the kids at play.  Some of my favourites from the day are shown below.